It’s official, NBC announced that it will air the Mockingbird Lane pilot on October 26, leading into that synergestic Halloween episode of Grimm. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed it pulls a Nightingales and does well enough to get a series order (though I hope it turns out to be a better series than Nightingales).

In a bit of small mercy, TNT has cancelled the reality competition series The Great Escape. It was a great concept and they had some terrific locations for challenges but what was on screen was too dumbed-down to be entertaining.

Congratulations to Maureen Garrett, who came out yesterday. Guiding Light fans will remember Garrett as Holly, who was tormented by the villainous Roger Thorpe. I took a while to warm up to Holly, but she eventually overcame my weakness for soap villains who wore crazyunderpants over their crazypants.

Jane Fonda is working on a pilot for ABC. The only detail available so far is that it will focus on a mother and daughter.

Revolution (and Supernatural) creator Eric Kripke says there’s a good chance the show will explain why the power went out (spoilers at the link) by the end of the season. The way Kripke handled the mythology of Supernatural convinced me to overlook some of my issues with Revolution‘s premise.

Friday’s Listings

Anderson Live (syndicated) Check local listingsBen Affleck, John Goodman and Bryan Cranston will be discussing their new movie Argo with Anderson and his co-host Nancy “You gave the victory to Wendy Pepper?” O’Dell.

The Wendy Williams Show (syndicated) Check local listingsWendy will be talking with both comedienne Joy Behar and Kylie Minogue today. The only problem? Kylie’s here to discuss her new movie, so there’s no mention of performing.

Boss (Starz) 9:00 PM ET The city’s facing bankruptcy, which means Kane is forced to deal with some emergency measures meant to keep things going, maybe an auction to hear a monologuing mayor deliver a soliloquy?

Degrassi (Teen Nick) 9:00 PM ET After a really strong season, Degrassi returns tonight with a focus on one of its more interesting characters — Becky. She started as a religious girl who did awful things in response to the school doing a gay take on Romeo & Juliet. However, a very real connection to Adam forced her to rexamine her prejudices and now she’s debating if her parents can handle meeting him.

Grimm (NBC) 9:00 PM ET As Nick runs into a man (Josh Stewart) on the run with his daughter, Monroe tries to mind the herb store while Rosalee‘s away… why do so many Grimm stories sound like they should lead to wacky mishaps?

Haven (Syfy) 10:00 PM ET If the new guy in town thinks Haven is just the boondocks, he’s getting a crash course in what makes the town so… unique, as there’s another series of mysterious deaths.

Saturday’s Listings

DC Nation (Cartoon Network) 10:00 AM ET I’m going to indulge myself a little and mention that it sounds like this week’s set of DC Nation shorts includes the debut of Amethyst, probably my favorite superhero comic character who isn’t a gay 31st century spy. I’m keeping my fingers crossed this one does the character justice after too many years of being ignored.

Too Cute! (Animal Planet) 8:00 PM ET For years I grumbled about the amount of the way nature programs focused on predators. “March of the Penguins was a big hit,” I’d complain, “Where is ‘Nap of the Koalas,’ ‘Tumble of the Panda Cubs’ or ‘Nonplussed Glance of the Shih-Tzus’?” Animal Planet finally responded to the shocking cute animal gap between TV and the internet with the addition of Too Cute! which gave us puppies, kittens and baby sloths in its first season. The second season premiere delivers even more puppies but this time offers them with a side of baby goats.

American Horror House (Syfy) 9:00 PM ET This seems new. Syfy’s original movies have included a fair share of mockbusters, but I think this is the first Syfy mockbuster that tries to recall a TV series. This one even has a story that seems to merge the Syfy movie with the style of American Horror Story, as it focuses on a sorority house that has to deal with both ghosts and a homicidal housemother (the synopsis says she has an axe to grind, they may mean that literally). This movie even mixes the combination of indie quirk and camp culture casting with Alessandra Torresani and Morgan Fairchild.

Celebrity Ghost Stories (Biography) 9:00 PM ET This week’s celebrities include supermodel Marcus Schenkenberg, who recalls an encounter he had in a Los Angeles hotel.

Funny as Hell 2012 (BBC America) 10:00 PM ET BBC America’s Ministry of Laughs returns to the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal to capture some of the stand up comedy performed there.